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Living Maxwell

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Why Organic is a MUST for Women — Pesticides Linked to Lower Chance of Pregnancy and Higher Risk of Pregnancy Loss

Each year when the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases its “Dirty Dozen”  – the 12 most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables that people should avoid – the major pesticide companies and their front groups launch a major PR campaign demanding that EWG stop publishing these annual lists, insisting that chemicals are not harmful.

The organic industry and health advocates completely scoff at these ridiculous claims. Furthermore, the State of California has declared that glyphosate, the most widely used chemical in the world and one that is routinely sprayed on our food supply, causes cancer.

And now we have a new report out of Harvard which reinforces the notion that pesticides can cause real harm, particularly for women.

According to a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, women undergoing infertility treatment in the U.S., who were consuming more fruits and vegetables with high amounts of pesticide residue, were associated with a lower chance of pregnancy and a higher risk of pregnancy loss.

Dr. Yu-Han Chiu, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and first author of the study, said,

“Most Americans are exposed to pesticides daily by consuming conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. There have been concerns for some time that exposure to low doses of pesticides through diet, such as those that we observed in this study, may have adverse health effects, especially in susceptible populations such as pregnant women and their fetus, and on children. Our study provides evidence that this concern is not unwarranted.”

Not surprisingly, when women switched to fruits and vegetables that had low pesticide residues, the odds of pregnancy and giving birth increased.

“Although we did find that intake of high-pesticide-residue fruits and vegetables were associated with lower reproductive success, intake of low-pesticide-residue fruits and vegetables had the opposite association,” said Dr. Yu-Han Chiu.

IN SUMMARY

What this all points to is that when it comes to fruits and vegetables, pregnant women should be eating as much organic as possible.

And despite what chemical industry front groups have to say, such as The Alliance for Food and Farming and Safe Fruits and Veggies, pesticides can cause real harm.

A few things to leave you with:

1) If pesticides are causing these pregnancy problems for women and their fetuses, imagine the other problems that they are causing.

2) Even though this study was about women, men should not think that pesticides can’t cause them harm as well.

For men, pesticides have been linked to lower sperm count and quality.

3) If you are eating fruits and vegetables, even organic ones, you must use a fruit and vegetable wash.

The only one I use and recommend is from Vermont Soap Organics called Produce Magic.

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Organic Insider

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The EPA Continues to Ignore the Danger of Atrazine, Which is Ruining Our Water Supply and Putting Our Health in Jeopardy

One of the reasons that many of us purchase organic is because we don’t want to put food into our bodies that contains synthetic chemicals.

Yet even though we may not eat conventionally-grown food ourselves, we still need to be very aware (and concerned) about what is going on in the non-organic world. Why?

Because the toxic chemicals that are sprayed on conventionally-grown food end up in the water supply.

And the EPA is not doing its job when it comes to protecting the integrity of our water.

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Living Maxwell

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Why Organic Food is a MUST for Men — Pesticides Have Been Linked to Lower Sperm Count and Quality

As someone who has eaten close to 100% organic since 2001, my personal experience is that women are more concerned than men about the quality of food they are putting into their bodies.

While this is based on anecdotal evidence, there are a few data points to back this up.

The Pew Research Center’s recent report called The New Food Fights: U.S. Public Divides Over Food Science concluded that women are more likely to care about GMOs than men.

According to Google Analytics, approximately 2/3rds of Living Maxwell readers – people reading about organic – are women.

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Organic Insider

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The FDA/USDA/EPA launch a GMO Website, But the Bigger Plan is Much More Worrisome

This post originally appeared in Organic Insider. If you would like to receive Organic Insider every other Wednesday, you can sign up for it HERE.

If consumers are seeking fair and balanced information about GMOs, they certainly will not find it on the new FDA/USDA/EPA website called Feed Your Mind.

This site is part of the Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative, which was funded by Congress, and is intended “to share science-based information that educates, informs and broadens understanding about agricultural biotechnology for consumers.”

Not surprisingly, it presents a very one-sided view of GMOs.

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